


The Meaning Of Being Real

by iceyly



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 06:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17657792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iceyly/pseuds/iceyly
Summary: Drabble - There is something kind of disturbing about watching someone with your own face die - even if it is just (or maybe because it is) a fake.





	The Meaning Of Being Real

**Author's Note:**

> God, I'm still full of III feels because _reasons_ , and then I noticed that I never posted this particular thing up here, even though I try to keep all my KH stuff up here at least, and I really love this particular drabble!
> 
> No spoilers for anything beyond CoM, because it's just something that looks at Riku's feelings on his Replica during their final battle!
> 
> Have fun and feels!

You breathe hard, grip tight tight tight around the Soul Eater as you stare at that other, the fake that wears your face, that wields the same power as you except not quite. It's a battle of despair, a battle for survival because neither of you will give, you are real and you know it, you are  _you_  as you told him before this fight had started, and he is just something made from your memory that wants to be more than it is.

In the end, only one of you can survive this fight and you both know it from the start.

You never would have thought that your own words of fighting yourself would ever take such a literal turn, but here you are and maybe there is some advantage in being you, because you know the other's patterns like they are your own (since they well, are actually your own). The trouble is so does the other, except that he doesn't quite seem to care right now, just rushing, just attacking and shouting and declaring your end and if you don't pay attention right now, it really is going to be just that.

His Darkness is tainting the air, tasting like despair and anger and confusion and whispers of why why why why can't there be just one thing for me to call my own, but you disregard the shadow's words and just press back, because you refuse to lose, especially to him. You refuse to give up when there is something that you must see through, when there are people waiting for you, people you need to see again (And you hear that sweet voice from your memory that isn't quite right and yet still familiar: 'You don't want to?' and you do do do.) and who does he think he is anyways, just thinking that by defeating you, he has any claim on your life and you feed that anger right into your own Darkness and keep your control tight as you wield it.

You can't quite believe it when you are the one left standing, the other flat on his back, Darkness pooling around his frame, and you both know that it won't be long until he fades into it. There is something kind of disturbing about watching someone with your own face die - even if it is just (or maybe because it is) a fake - something that makes your stomach twist and you just want to throw up then and there, because you are the reason he is lying there, you survived and he is dying and maybe that's the order of things since you are real and he is not, but that doesn't make it any more right either.

Fake or not, he still has a heart after all. A heart, a body, a soul. In that he is the same as everyone.

His just happen to look like yours.

Maybe they are really the same, because he reminds you so very much of how you used to be, of who you denied being for the better part of your tour through this castle's basements except you know better now. You can't deny being him, just as much as he can't deny being you and maybe your hearts come from the same place and will return to be the same one day as well.

A faithful replica, he calls himself when you voice that thought, and maybe he's right, maybe it really is okay.

There is only one of you left now, the one that gets to claim to be real and you  _are_  (even though, maybe, you think, maybe he was just as real as me after all). Still, you force yourself to watch him fade, you don't turn you gaze even though it is tempting, because you were to one to kill him and the least you can do is look him in the eye as he dies.

Then you turn towards the exit, because you can only go forward and you have to - you made a promise to yourself, and maybe you also just made a promise to him, and you intend to keep those.

You won't feel guilty for killing him, because you know there was no choice, not in this, but that doesn't mean you won't ever look back without regrets. 

And maybe, you think, that is okay too.   
  


\--- Fin ---

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please, consider to leave a comment! :3


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